Uncle Wiggily’s Fishing Trip
Or
The Good Luck He Had With the Clothes Hook and How The Pip and Skee Were Stuck By the Chestnut Burrs. Also the Good Time at the Marshmallow Roast.

Text By

HOWARD R. GARIS

Author of Three Little Trippertrots and Bed Time Stories

Pictured By

LANG CAMPBELL

NEWARK, N. J.

CHARLES E. GRAHAM & CO.

NEW YORK

So if the spoon holder doesn’t go down cellar and take the coal shovel away from the gas stove, you may read

1

UNCLE WIGGILY’S AUTO SLED.

2

UNCLE WIGGILY’S SNOW MAN.

3

UNCLE WIGGILY’S HOLIDAYS.

4

UNCLE WIGGILY’S APPLE ROAST.

5

UNCLE WIGGILY’S PICNIC.

6

UNCLE WIGGILY’S FISHING TRIP.

7

UNCLE WIGGILY’S JUNE BUG FRIENDS.

8

UNCLE WIGGILY’S VISIT TO THE FARM.

9

UNCLE WIGGILY’S SILK HAT.

10

UNCLE WIGGILY, INDIAN HUNTER.

11

UNCLE WIGGILY’S ICE CREAM PARTY.

12

UNCLE WIGGILY’S WOODLAND GAMES.

13

UNCLE WIGGILY ON THE FLYING RUG.

14

UNCLE WIGGILY AT THE BEACH.

15

UNCLE WIGGILY AND THE PIRATES.

16

UNCLE WIGGILY’S FUNNY AUTO.

17

UNCLE WIGGILY ON ROLLER SKATES.

18

UNCLE WIGGILY GOES SWIMMING.

“Where are you going, boys?” asked Uncle Wiggily Longears, the bunny rabbit gentleman one day, as he stood in front of his hollow stump bungalow. Nurse Jane was on the steps, shaking the wrinkles out of the table cloth. Going past, with poles over their shoulders, was Jackie Bow Wow, the puppy dog boy, and Charlie Chick, the little rooster chap. “Where are you going?” Uncle Wiggily asked them. “Fishing,” answered Jackie. “Don’t you want to come?” crowed Charlie, the rooster. “Yes, I think I might go, later on, perhaps,” said Uncle Wiggily.

“Why, Uncle Wiggily!” cried Nurse Jane, as she looked out the window. “You’ll let all my nicely washed clothes down in the mud if you loosen that line! Please stop!” Uncle Wiggily stopped, but he said: “I want a bit of line to go fishing with, Nurse Jane. You have more than you need here.” The muskrat lady laughed. “I’ll get you an extra piece that has no clothes hanging on it,” she said. “But aren’t you afraid the sharp hook will hurt the fish you catch?” Uncle Wiggily shook his head. “I’m going to use a smooth hammock hook,” he said.

“So you are going fishing, are you?” Nurse Jane called after the bunny rabbit gentleman who hopped down the road. “Yes,” he answered. “You gave me a bit of clothes line, I’ll use my rheumatism crutch for a pole, the dull hammock hook will not hurt the fish, and for bait I’ll give them some of the cherry pie you put up for my lunch.” Nurse Jane waved her paw, and said she hoped the bunny gentleman would have good luck and bring home plenty of fish. “Uncle Wiggily thinks he’ll catch something,” said the Pipsisewah to Skeezicks, “but we’ll catch him!”

“Well, now I am all ready to begin fishing,” said Uncle Wiggily to himself, as he sat down on a green, mossy bank, in a shady nook beside a little brook. “I’ll bait the dull hammock hook with a nice, sweet, juicy bit of cherry pie, and then we’ll see what I shall catch.” Hiding behind the rabbit gentleman, in the bushes, the Skeezicks and Pipsisewah whispered to one another about catching Uncle Wiggily. “I only hope I don’t spoil my nice, new hat,” said the Skee. “And I hope nothing happens to my new cap,” spoke the Pip. Uncle Wiggily knew nothing of this.

“Dear me hum suz dud and some slippery eels!” cried Uncle Wiggily. “What is this I have caught without even wetting my hook in the brook? I declare! It’s a fine hat! I’ll take it home and Nurse Jane can fix it up for me! Hats cost money. Now I have a new one for nothing!” Uncle Wiggily’s hook had snatched the hat off the head of the Skeezicks hiding in the bushes. And oh, how surprised the Skee was. Likewise the Pipsisewah. “Come on, let’s grab him quick!” cried the bad chaps. “He’ll catch us on the hook next!” So they got ready to get the bunny.

“Well, I do declare!” cried Uncle Wiggily, as once more he swung his hook and line around his head. “I seem to be having the queerest luck today! First I catch a hat and then I catch a cap. Well, so much the better for me. They are both quite sporty. Now I will not have to buy anything to cover my head all winter. But I must try to catch a fish for Nurse Jane.” The bad Skeezicks and the worse Pipsisewah were dancing up and down, they were so mad. “It’s all your fault!” howled the Pip as he saw his fine cap snatched away. “No, it’s yours!” gargled the Skee.

“Now to see what I catch this time!” cried Uncle Wiggily, as once more, he swung his hook and line around his head. “Come on!” cried the Pip to the Skee. “Come on! This is no place for us! First thing we know he’ll catch us on that hook!” The Skee began to run, saying: “Uncle Wiggily is too good a fisherman for us. We’ll have to try again!” The bunny gentleman had put the hat and cap down on the grass beside him. Then he saw Jackie Bow Wow and Charlie Chick coming along. The puppy dog boy and the rooster chap had caught nothing.

“Oh, Uncle Wiggily! Look!” cried Jackie Bow Wow, as he and the bunny gentleman and Charlie Chick stopped in front of a drug store on their way home from the fishing trip. “Look! Special sale of ice cream cones!” Charlie Chick said: “I wonder how they taste?” Uncle Wiggily, who had not caught any fish, any more than had the puppy and rooster, sort of blinked his eyes. “I wonder how much those gold minnows are?” he said to himself. “I’m going in and ask. I guess I can buy gold fish with silver money. And we’ll see about some ice cream cones, too!”

“Well, Uncle Wiggily, did you have good luck?” asked Nurse Jane, as, standing at the gate of the hollow stump bungalow, she saw Mr. Longears coming back from his fishing trip. “Good luck? I should say so! I caught a cap and a hat, and a glass bowl full of fish.” Nurse Jane laughed. “Did you catch anything, Jackie and Charlie?” she asked. “Ice cream cones,” answered the puppy dog and rooster chap. “They’re better than fish!” And back in their dens the Pip and Skee had nothing but cold potatoes for supper, and they had to wear an old cap and hat.

Uncle Wiggily Longears, the bunny rabbit gentleman, leaned on the gate in front of his hollow stump bungalow one day. He was all dressed up to take a walk, but didn’t know where to go. All at once he saw Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the two squirrel boys. “Where are you going, Johnnie and Billie?” asked the bunny uncle. “We are going to the woods for some chestnuts and hickorynuts,” answered Johnnie. “Mother puts them in our cake.” Uncle Wiggily said that was fine. “I wonder if Nurse Jane will bake a cake if I get some nuts?” said Uncle Wiggily.

“Nurse Jane,” asked Uncle Wiggily, as he gave a hop, skip and jump back into the hollow stump bungalow, after Billie and Johnnie had scampered on down the woodland path, “Nurse Jane, if I get some hickorynuts, or chestnuts, will you bake them in a cake for me?” She said she would, and be very glad to. So Uncle Wiggily found an empty flour bag and, slinging it over his shoulder, off he started to find some nuts in the woods. “And please be careful that the Pipsisewah or the Skeezicks doesn’t get you!” begged Nurse Jane.

Uncle Wiggily hopped and jumped through the woods, with the empty flour sack over his shoulder. He was thinking how good the nut cake would taste when, all of a sudden, the bunny rabbit gentleman came to a big pile of chestnuts under a tree. The wind has blown them down, but they were still in the stickery, prickery burrs, Jack Frost not having cracked them open. Uncle Wiggily did not know as much about chestnuts as did Johnnie and Billie, the squirrels, and picked up the nuts with his bare paws. “Ouch,” he cried. “I’m stuck full of splinters!”

While Uncle Wiggily was wondering how he could fill his bag with chestnuts, and not get the stickers in his paws, along through the woods came Charlie and Arabella Chick, the little rooster boy and the little hen girl. “Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” crowed Charlie, “Arabella and I will pick up the stickery chestnuts for you in our beaks. They won’t stick us!” Uncle Wiggily said that would be very kind. So, while the bunny held open the bag, Charlie and Arabella filled it with the prickly chestnuts. And what do you suppose the Pipe and Skee are going to do?

“Good-bye, Uncle Wiggily! Good-bye!” crowed Charlie the rooster chap, as the bunny rabbit gentleman’s bag was filled with chestnuts, and he started for his hollow stump bungalow. “Good-bye!” answered Uncle Wiggily. “When Nurse Jane bakes the nut cake, I’ll save you each a piece for having so kindly helped me!” The Pipsisewah, hiding behind a tree with the Skeezicks, heard what the bunny said and cried: “He must have a cake in that bag! When he isn’t looking, I’ll tear the bag open with my claws and the cake will fall out!”

Uncle Wiggily walked along through the woods, with the bag of chestnut burrs over his shoulder. “When I get home,” thought the bunny, “I’ll get Johnnie and Billie Bushytail to help me take the stickers off the chestnuts, and then Nurse Jane can make the cake.” Following behind Uncle Wiggily, laughing and skipping and full of glee, was the old Pipsisewah and also Mr. Skee. “Won’t we have a good time when I rip that bag open with my claws, and Uncle Wiggily’s cake falls out!” cried the Pip. “Indeed we will!” said the Skee. But you wait and see.

“Hello there, Johnnie and Billie!” cried Uncle Wiggily, as he saw the two squirrel boys up in a tree. “Did you find any nuts?” the bunny asked them. “Yes, a few,” answered Billie. “What’s in your bag, Uncle Wiggily?” asked Johnnie. “Oh, something good,” replied the bunny rabbit. “Charlie and Arabella Chick helped me, but if it hadn’t been for you I never would have thought of nut cake. So come down to my hollow stump bungalow!” Johnnie and Billie were delighted. “Now is my chance!” whispered the Pip to the Skee. “Watch the cake fall out of the bag!”

“My goodness me sakes alive and a peanut lollypop! What happened?” cried Uncle Wiggily, looking around as he felt the bag on his back ripped open. “What’s the matter?” Johnnie and Billie laughed to see the Pipsisewah and Skeezicks all stuck up with the sharp chestnut burrs. “That’s what happened, Uncle Wiggily!” chattered Billie. “The Pip and Skee were fooled all right!” “You said there was cake in that bag!” growled the Skee, picking a chestnut splinter from his nose. “I thought so,” sadly howled the Pip, who had a splinter in each ear.

“Well, everything came out all right, didn’t it, Uncle Wiggily?” asked Johnnie, as Nurse Jane gave him another slice of cake. “Yes, everything came out all right—even the prickly chestnut burrs out of my bag!” laughed the bunny. “The Pip and Skee won’t bother me again very soon. They are full of splinters.” Charlie and Arabella had helped pick up the chestnuts the second time, the bunny fixed the hole made by the Pipsisewah, and Johnnie and Billie opened the chestnuts. Nurse Jane made the cake. Everybody was happy except the Pip and the Skee.

“Dear me! What’s all this?” asked Uncle Wiggily Longears one day, as he sat in his hollow stump bungalow reading the paper. Into his sitting room came Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbits; Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels; Lulu, Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble, the ducks; Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow, the puppy dog boys, and Nannie and Billie Wagtail, the goats. “What’s the matter?” asked Uncle Wiggily. “Will you please come to the woods and help us roast marshmallow candies?” asked Sammie. “I will,” said Uncle.

Off to the woods went the bunny rabbit gentleman and his animal friends. They built a little fire and then opened the boxes of marshmallow candies. Uncle Wiggily made some long, sharp-pointed sticks for the children and then they began to roast the sweet chunks of sticky candy. All of a sudden Susie Littletail held her marshmallow too close to the blaze, and it caught fire. “Oh, Uncle Wiggily!” cried Susie. “What shall I do? My candy is on fire!” Uncle Wiggily twinkled his pink nose and said: “Be calm, my child!”

“Fire! Fire!” cried Billie Wagtail, the goat boy. “Call out the fire engines! I’ll be the chief!” Billie took some bark from a white birch tree and made himself a trumpet, so he could shout at the other animal boys. Uncle Wiggily ran quickly to a spring near by, and, scooping up a lot of water in his tall silk hat, he poured it on Susie’s blazing, smoking marshmallow. “Now the fire is out!” said the bunny. Some of the animal girls almost fainted, but the boys found empty tin cans and brought them full of water.

The water from Uncle Wiggily’s tall silk hat soon put out the fire in Susie’s marshmallow, and everything was nice again. Uncle Wiggily and the other animal boys and girls were just going to roast more candies when, all of a sudden, Nannie Wagtail, the goat girl, sat down in a pile of sticky marshmallows which Billie Bushytail left on top of a flat stump. “Oh, Uncle Wiggily! Uncle Wiggily!” bleated Nannie. “I’m stuck fast! Oh, has a bear got me?” The bunny laughed. “You are only stuck on the sticky candies,” he said. “I’ll pull you loose!”

“Now, all together! Pull!” cried Uncle Wiggily, when they had taken hold of Nannie, the goat girl. “Pull hard, everybody!” said the bunny rabbit gentleman, “and we’ll soon have Nannie loose from the sticky marshmallows. You shouldn’t have left them there, Billie.” The squirrel boy said he was sorry. Then, with laughter and shouts, they all pulled, one, two, three! Nannie slowly came loose from where she was stuck on the stump. Over in the woods, the bad old fox tramp heard the noise. “I must see what that is,” he said.

All of a sudden, just as Uncle Wiggily and the animal boys and girls were going to start roasting marshmallows again, right through the bushes jumped the bad old fuzzy tramp fox. Susie’s candy-fire had been put out, Nannie had been pulled loose from the stump, and here was new trouble. “How dare you roast marshmallows in my woods?” growled the fox. “We didn’t know these were your woods,” spoke Uncle Wiggily, politely. “Well, they are!” grumbled the fox. “And, just for that, I’m going to bite a lot of souse off your ears.”

Uncle Wiggily was brave. As soon as the fox jumped through the bushes the bunny rabbit began to think of a way to save himself and the animal boys and girls. Uncle Wiggily whispered to Billie Wagtail and Jackie Bow Wow to put a lot of the sticky marshmallow candies on a flat stump behind the fox. Then the bunny rabbit said to the fuzzy chap: “Wouldn’t you like to roast a marshmallow before you bite my souse?” The fox growled and said: “Well, I s’pose I might as well! Candy goes well with souse. I’ll roast one.” The fox began to do this.

When Uncle Wiggily saw that the pile of sticky candies was in readiness on the flat stump behind the fuzzy fox, the bunny rabbit made a low and polite bow with his tall silk hat and said: “Won’t you please be seated, Mr. Fox, while you are roasting your candy? It may take some little time, and perhaps you will get tired. Sit down, I pray you.” The fox growled and said: “Well, I s’pose I might!” So he got ready to sit down. Billie and Jackie laughed so hard, but in whispers, they could hardly stand up. “Wait till he sits down,” said Billie.

“Oh, wow! Double wow and some feather pillows!” howled the fox, as he felt himself caught by the sticky candies. “What has happened?” Uncle Wiggily, first having told the animal children to run along toward their homes, blew a kiss to the fuzzy fox, who was caught fast. “Lots has happened,” said the bunny rabbit. “You thought you would catch me, but you are caught yourself! It will be a good while before you can pull yourself loose, Mr. Fox!” The fox growled and grumbled, but he could not get away. So Uncle Wiggily was saved.